District 112 School Board Candidate Q&A: Yumi Ross

Background: Yumi Ross, 48, is running for the District 112 School Board for the first time. She was one of three candidates by the school board caucus, is an architect and an active member of the Highland Park community. She has participated in a number of district-related projects, including serving on the school board caucus in 2008.

Highland Park Patch: Why run for the school board?

Yumi Ross: I served on the 2008 caucus and I was a delegate for Indian Trail. It was fascinating to me because throughout the process you see many different opinions. We came together and it was a fair process and that actually inspired me. I wanted to continue to be involved in the district. I applied to the district when they were seeking applications to serve on the strategic planning team. It was a very intense process; I was chosen to serve on the 28-member team and I served on two of the five strategy teams. After all of that, I wanted to do more. I thought it made total sense to run for the school board. I’ve attended every meeting. I bring fairly extensive experience in the district. I have participated in these planning teams, one of which helped draft the five-year strategic plan, and I also have extensive board experience. I also worked for the education team of a non-profit called Cool Globes for about two years on a five-member team. We created a teaching curriculum about the environment geared toward middle school. I worked with CPS teachers, science coordinators and a DePaul University professor.

HP Patch: What do you see as the role of the school board? How activist should it be?

Ross: The school board takes its direction from the superintendent and has to evaluate all the information that’s given to them. There’s a lot of information thrown at you and apparently there’s even more than the public sees. I would say to be a guiding light, to ask questions and to be a force pushing the district to be better by its kids. I think the board does have that ability, to the extent that we have a say in how programs are administered, and speak on behalf of the families. We’re advocates for education. I think that while we’re somewhat limited, I think that there are things we can do to push for better education. I don’t want to go into specifics, but there are certain programs that we have a say in how they’re administered. Our mission is to support and nurture every child and we have to be advocates. 

HP Patch: What are some of the things you would like to see change if elected?

Ross: I want to see the successes of District 112 continue. Based on what I’ve been reading and listening to at the school board meetings, I’m concerned about raising the reading and writing test scores. I think it’s not on par with the math scores and, in general, writing skills are hugely important in anything you do. I guess the impetus for getting involved is this desire to see education improved; just have the kids feeling like they’re really being challenged and I think we can do an even better job of that. 

HP Patch: What personal traits do you believe are important in a school board candidate? 

Ross: I work well on a board, but I’m also definitely not afraid to speak up if there’s something that needs to be said. It doesn’t matter who disagrees with me, I’m still going to speak up. I feel that’s a really important quality is to be true to yourself and not be intimidated to speak up. That’s something I really believe in. 

HP Patch: Given the state of the economy and dwindling budgets, how would you distribute funding? Which programs would you recommend cutting?

Ross: Everything has to be on the table for discussion. However, without yet being on the board itself, I can’t comment other than to say anything other than we’re facing around a $2.5 million shortfall. Some of it’s going to have to come out of reserves. There are different scenarios the board is looking at. But everything’s on the table.

HP Patch: Two schools in District 112 have not made Adequate Yearly Progress by the standards of No Child Left Behind. What are some things the school board can do to help the schools meet these standards?

Ross: I think that it’s certainly the board’s responsibility to support these two schools and address the issues. I believe every child in the district is entitled to a world-class education. That is our mission, it’s our mandate, so we need to support the schools and give them sufficient resources to address the problem. We’ve all seen what it does when kids have access to a great access to education.  

HP Patch: How can the school board effectively promote partnerships between all parents, teachers and the board?

Ross: That’s something I’m very interested in. there are all sorts of areas of communication that need to be improved. For example, in special education there needs to be better communication between the families and the administration, better understanding between the parents of kids who need the services and those who don’t.  Another area that needs to be in my opinion is communication; there doesn’t’ seem to be good communication between District 112 and District 113. Our kids feed into 113 and it’s beneficial to both that we be in sync. I hear over and over again that parents see little to no communication. That’s a drain on resources if we’re not in sync. I’d like to see that improved. Certainly the Internet is a great tool and we have to be actively looking at that as a priority.